Treehouse of Horror XXIV
"Treehouse of Horror XXIV" is the 24th Halloween episode of , aired in the show's 25th season. The episode was written by and aired on October 6, 2013 on the Fox Network. Synopsis Oh, the Places You'll D'oh It is Halloween and the Simpson kids are unable to go out due to having the mumps. Once their mother leaves for a costume party, they are visited by The Fat in the Hat (Homer) who gives them vaccinations so he can take them out to get candy. However, instead of helping the kids get their treats, Fat takes them on a path of death and destruction before they manage to elude him and get back home. But Fat is waiting for them there and gloats that he will never leave them before getting fatally stabbed with his own umbrella by Maggie. With Fat dead, the kids faked having the mumps when their mother gets home. Dead and Shoulders After getting his head ripped off in a kite accident at the airport, Bart is surgically attached to Lisa's body. Though the two eventually are able to get along, Bart learns that can control Lisa's body while she is unconscious and resolves to get rid of her to have total control. Unfortunately, the attempt on the sawmill results with Bart transferred to Selma's body while Lisa's bodiless head is grafted onto Krusty. Freaks No Geeks In a 1920s era circus, the self-serving strongman Homer gets his lover trapeze artist Marge to marry sideshow performer Moe after learning of the ring he inherited from his mother. At their wedding reception, the other "freaks" announce that they accept Marge in spite of her being a "normal" outsider. Later finding Homer attempting to poison Moe' wedding wine class, Marge kicks him out as he soon finds himself attacked by the freaks. The scene fast forwards to a mutilated "human duck" Homer finishing the story of how he and Marge met to their kids. Production In October 2013, in an interview with , spoke about directing the opening of the episode, saying: "The Simpsons titles are so iconic and yet they've never been riffed in this vein. I really wanted to land the connections between the show's set pieces and the titles and some of the most iconic horror movies, and intersperse them with some of my stuff in there for pure joy. For example the idea that Ms. Krabappel could be outside the school with which is a reference to the sequence in The Birds that happens outside of the school in Bodega Bay. To use Chief Wiggum as the Cyclops from Harryhausen, dipping the Lard Lad donut in a water tank, to have the nuclear spill from Mr. Burns' plant create zombies — all of this stuff seems to make sense to interconnect. If Homer really gets a radioactive isotope, he could turn into a reaper from Blade. Or the famous shot that is always in the titles — Maggie driving and then you pull back and there's Marge driving, right? But in this case Maggie is driving, and she's driving the car from the horror movie from the 70s called , which is one of my favorite guilty pleasure B-movies. And what if Lisa is in the music class, but she's in the music class with every Phantom of the Opera ever made? It was a unique opportunity." He also spoke about the references in the opening, saying: "You as a kid could spend an afternoon on your bed with your magnifying glass going through a frame of ''Mad'' magazine and finding all these references to this and that. I integrated Lisa falling through the couch like Alice in Wonderland but in the dress of the girl from , and instead of landing next to the giant toad in Pan's Labyrinth, she lands next to the Hypnotoad from . At the last minute I wanted to put a Mexican wrestler in there, but casting producer Bonnie Pietila said to me, "We've got to go! We cannot keep adding and adding stuff." Cultural references "Oh, the Places You'll D'oh" is a spoof of the book . Another Seuss character, the Lorax, also makes an appearance in the episode, where he is seen promoting an SUV in an obvious jab at the marketing for the 2012 Lorax film adaptation. Marge goes to attend a Halloween party in a costume. When Homer, as the cat, is killed, he requests that he not be portrayed by actor , an obvious jab at the 2003 Cat in the Hat movie where Myers portrayed the Cat. "Dead and Shoulders" borrows the premise of the 1972 movie , which starred and . "Freaks No Geeks" is a parody of 's classic 1932 horror film . Reception Critical reception David Hinckley of the gave "Treehouse of Horror XXIV" three stars out of five, writing that "'Treehouse of Horrors' remains an honorable tradition, and if nothing else, it reminds fans that they don't have to wait for South Park to get some good old-fashioned animated mayhem." Dennis Perkins of gave the episode a B, saying, "After the season-opening Homeland parody storyline in last week's episode and a "Treehouse of Horror" for its second, we have yet to see exactly what this season has going for it as The Simpsons soldiers on for its 25th season, as these premise-heavy episodes haven't left much room for character. Next week will be the real test, but for now, I'll take these first two installments as cause for hope." Tony Sokol of Den of Geek wrote that the episode was "nearly a classic". He felt the third segment was the best and wrote that "When The Simpsons commit to a joke, they commit." Ratings The episode received a 3.0 rating and was watched by a total of 6.42 million people, this made it the most watched show on Animation Domination that night beating its fellow FOX cartoons , and . Trivia *This is the second Treehouse of Horror episode to have a Halloween-themed opening sequence, after "Treehouse of Horror IX" in Season 10. *With an airdate of October 6, 2013, "Treehouse of Horror XXIV" is so far the Treehouse of Horror episode that has aired the earliest in the calendar year. *In the opening, Lard Lad comes to life with lightning referencing "Treehouse of Horror VI". *This is the first Treehouse of Horror episode since "Treehouse of Horror IX" to have a chalkboard gag. *This episode features the first Halloween-themed couch gag since "Treehouse of Horror X". *This is the first (and only) Treehouse of Horror episode whose segment uses the word D'oh. External links * Category:The Simpsons Category:2013 releases Category:Compilations and anthologies